Colorado State football ready to hit the road

Rams close up prep work in Fort Collins

By Mike Brohard Sports Editor

Posted:
12/17/2013 04:56:13 PM MST

FORT COLLINS -- Charles Lovett waited patiently while all the microphones from television crews were removed from his shirt. Tuesday had already been a busy day, with practice and all, but it was far from over. As much as he has used his speed on the field, he was going to need it on campus as he had a short amount of time to get to his gender communications final.

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He wasn't the only Ram in the situation, while a few lucky ones had already cleared their academic calendars. But all of them were a day away from being able to focus on football as the team heads south Wednesday to transfer preparation for Saturday's New Mexico Bowl from Fort Collins to Albuquerque.

"It's been tough. Nobody on the team is used to it, because it's our first bowl game," Lovett said. "We just have to adapt and overcome. We have to do good on our finals first, because if we don't make the grades, we can't play. We have to do good in school."

Colorado State wide receiver Charles Lovett said the team is happy to have finals behind them and a trip to New Mexico ahead of them, where the Rams can focus on football only.
(Steve Stoner)

As the players walked off the field, there was a lot of cheering, and that brought a smile to coach Jim McElwain's face.

Good for them, he said. He feels they've handled the situation well throughout the week and made strides on the field at the same time.

"The one thing that we really preach throughout this program is the understanding to handle the chaos," he said. "The understanding is you have to adapt, you have to overcome and you have to conquer no matter what the obstacles are. This is just another example of it."

The Rams practiced late Monday, ending around 9:30 p.m. at the stadium. Tuesday, the alarm came early for a 7:20 a.m. start.

Colorado State will leave for Albuquerque on Wednesday, land around 11:30 a.m. and head to the University of New Mexico for practice. It's a football-only routine the players welcome.

"That will be a big relief," tight end Kivon Cartwright said. "We'll all be in New Mexico centered on one common goal."

That goal is clear. He said he had but one item on his agenda, and that was to win.

Both were first-team all-Mountain West picks, as Barrett was named the defender of the year with 74 tackles and his MW-leading 20.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks, numbers that rank among the top four nationally. Bibbs, who was named second-team All-American by Walter Camp, rushed for 1,572 yards in 2013 with 28 touchdowns, a figure that is second nationally.

New Mexico Bowl opponent Deone Bucannon was also an honorable mention pick by SI.com at safety.

Talk and listen -- The secondary said added communication will be key to handling Washington State's offense and practice time has been used to sharpen that skill.

Safety Trent Matthews said it was a process that started in film study, and the Rams had a bit more of that with the coaches on the road recruiting.

"It was awesome. We got to hear other people talk in our film study room that normally don't talk and ask questions, so we all got a good chunk while the coaches were gone," Matthews said. "Communication is one of the biggest keys we have to do. Without that, we lose. If we don't communicate, we lose the game, so we're really harping on each practice we go through to communicate."

Ticket update -- According to Colorado State, they have distributed 3,728 tickets for the New Mexico Bowl. In 2008, that number ended up at 5,060.

Those are not tickets sold. That number also includes player tickets (two each, according to media relations director Paul Kirk).